Chemeketa: Highway 36/Sorenson Street Project: Part 2
Hi everyone-
Construction season is still in full swing, and another new update is upon us. We'll be taking a look at the completion of the Highway 36/Sorenson Street interchange.
Replies to the last update are up here--thanks for all your support and feedback on it! 
Highway 36/Sorenson Street Project (continued)
Last update, we left off with the northern segment of Sorenson Street being realigned and widened to 4 lanes, between 5th and 16th Avenues NE. This construction update will focus on the southern part of the project area, including the reconfiguration of the Sorenson Street interchange along Highway 36.
Due to the high volume of truck traffic coming from the industrial area to the south, and the close proximity of the McCabe Street and Highway 15 interchanges to the Sorenson Street interchange, ORDOT has opted to replace the existing diamond/parclo hybrid with a first-in-the-region diverging diamond interchange (DDI). The DDI will be connected into collector-distributor roadways to the east. Proximity matters on the west side of the interchange will be mitigated by the future Highway 36 Chemeketa Center Modernization Project, which is currently planned to move the access points.
The new alignment of Sorenson Street has been built out toward Highway 36, and the existing parclo loop ramp on the north side of the interchange (providing access to and from westbound 36) is being demolished (facing east).
This Exit 57 sign now looks a bit out of place (facing west)
Work on the north side of the new interchange continues. You can see a sliver of the old Sorenson Street overpass in the bottom-right (facing north).
Facing east, as construction continues.
The old Sorenson Street interchange has now been closed off (facing east).
Motorists have been detoured to Mosby Road for access to the industrial area in the meanwhile, and access to Highways 15 and 36 is possible via the Hwy 15/Terent Road interchange. As seen from this image of the intersection of Mosby Road SE and Terent Road SE (facing south), traffic's definitely picked up.
Meanwhile, back at the interchange, there's progress on the construction of the overpass. Highway 36 traffic has been shifted over some in order to allow for staging (facing south).
The intersection with Stinson Road SE (the road just to the south of Highway 36) has been . . . wait for it . . . realigned to the south (facing east), taking over part of the old alignment of Sorenson. The western segment is closed for the present, and will be reconnected by the city once the main bulk of the interchange improvements are finished.
Old (top) and new (bottom) (facing east)
And the new overpass and exit on the west side of the interchange are now open. (facing east)
The ramps on the east side are still being constructed, including the C/D setup for the westbound lanes on Highway 36. The road to the left is Meander Drive NE (which forms a meandering loop--hence the name--off of Sorenson Street).
The entrance to 36 eastbound is being built (facing west). You can see a little stub of the old southern segment of Sorenson Street (which now connects into Stinson Road).
And here is the mostly completed interchange (facing west), with the C/D lanes constructed for westbound 36. The old northern segment of Sorenson now curves onto Meander just north of the freeway. Contractors are continuing to work on minor punchlist items.
Well, that does it for this installment of Tarkusian Cities. Next update, we'll go just a bit north and east, to take a brief look at the explosion of development brought on by the 39th Ave NE SPUI from Update 81.
-Tarkus
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